Blackberry Smoke

Jan. 8 • Bogart's

Like the word “Fusion,” “Southern Rock”
is another musical moniker that has been overused throughout the years.
It is a category of music that made up a huge part of the sounds of the
’70s and ’80s, yet it is also a phrase that elicits stereotypes and
misconceptions. After years of established Southern Rock groups often
touring successfully with few original members — as well as countless
Southern Rock cover bands and maybe a few Outlaw Country artists
dabbling in the style — there is finally a new outfit that is bringing a
fresh take to the genre called Blackberry Smoke.

Cincinnati has long been a part of
Southern Rock history. Perhaps the music’s best-known group, The Allman
Brothers Band, recorded its now-famous “Live At Ludlow Garage” album in
Cincinnati back in 1970.

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The legendary group was also the first act to
perform at U.S. Bank Arena (then Riverfront Coliseum) when the venue
opened in 1975. The original lineup of Lynyrd Skynyrd performed here
just months before their fateful airplane crash, while the local
Southern Rock scene was for years well represented by bands such as
Wheels.

With two full-length albums and a couple
of EPs under their belt, Blackberry Smoke began to attract some
attention from Rock music fans who wanted a little grit in their musical
gravy in this new century. Then, they began to get bigger and better
gigs, opening for ZZ Top and the Zac Brown Band, the latter of which
signed the group to their Southern Ground record label. That resulted in
Blackberry Smoke’s well-received new album, The Whippoorwill. The group has also released the live DVD, Live at the Georgia Theater, which showed fans that Blackberry Smoke has the ability to deftly expand upon their studio recordings in a live setting.